Context: Malnutrition is the biggest health problem of children in developing countries. Approximately 60 million children are underweight in India and child malnutrition is responsible for 22% of the country’s burden of disease. Aims: (i) To study the knowledge and attitude of anganwadi workers (AWWs) after IMNCI training regarding malnutrition. (ii) To assess the skills acquired by AWWs after IMNCI training regarding malnutrition. Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted in five talukas of Surendranagar district from August 2012 to January 2013. Sample size included all AWWs of five talukas of Surendranagar district, who had received basic IMNCI training. Out of a total 833 AWWs, 774 were interviewed. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test. Results: The analysis shows that majority of AWWs were educated up to secondary level (49.49%). Nearly 20% of AWWs were educated up to primary level, which could be a barrier to any program implementation. 80.6% of the respondents correctly identified the grade-4 malnutrition from growth chart, while nearly 20% of the respondents were able to identify low-grade, i.e., first to third degree malnutrition. Conclusions: Educational status plays a great role for the success of any program as it affects the understanding and grasping level of AWWs about their skillful management of malnutrition. Efficient and keen work in the field requires not only proper training but also assessment of their skills at all levels. Re-training at timely interval can play a lead role to improve their skills.

Background: Body image is the dynamic perception of one’s body. Body image perception depends on anthropometric and psychological factors. Body dissatisfaction is influenced by the socio-cultural environment and is associated with eating disorders and low self-esteem. Ojectives: To study the body image perception among undergraduate female students in a medical college. Materials And Methods: It is a cross-sectional study conducted among 239 undergraduate female medical students. It was conducted during December 2015-January 2016 in one of the medical colleges in Mangalore. A 34 item Body Shape Questionnaire(BSQ) along with the details on socio-demography was collected using a validated questionnaire. The 34-item BSQ measures body image concern through a 6-point Likertscale. The scores are classified into 4 categories: satisfied (not worried) about body shape (<81), slightly worried (81 - 110), moderately worried (111 - 140), and extremely worried (>140). The data so obtained was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Results: Median age of the students was 20 years.64% of them were in the age group of 20-26 years.50% of them were from Karnataka. According to the BSQ it was seen that up to 32.6% were dissatisfied with themselves. No association was noted between the body image perception and place of origin or age groups of the subjects. But a significant association was noted between body image perception and subjects avoiding communal changing rooms and self consciousness. Conclusion: With adequate health education people can be made aware that being dissatisfied with their body images could lead to adverse health events like anorexia nervosa and bulimia. A number of potential factors that may help to protect against negative body image or prevent negative body image exist.

Background: Unhealthy disposal of solid waste is considered as one of the most important problems in many societies and biomedical waste management is a systematic way of disposing of the healthcare waste. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of educational intervention on knowledge and attitude regarding biomedical management among nursing students. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Yenepoya Nursing College and Hospital with the approval of the institutional ethical committee during the period December to 2016 among nursing students with the population proportion 62.4% and sample proportion 72%3 at 5% level of significance with power 80%, the sample size was 177. All the students who gave consent to be part of the study were included. Data was collected using a predesigned, pretested, validated and structured proforma and analyzed with SPSS v.16.0. Result: Mean age of the participants was 19.33±2 years. Knowledge regarding biomedical waste management before any educational intervention was very low. There was a statistically significant (p<0.001) increase in the knowledge among nursing students after the educational intervention. Improvement in the knowledge score was also observed. Conclusions: There was a significant difference between the pretest and post-test scores which shows that the educational intervention was effective.

Background: Mental disorders are common throughout the world. Mental disorders usually not recognized at PHC level lead to unnecessary investigations and treatment, putting a financial burden on patients. This paper describes integration of community mental health services with other services provided at a primary health center (PHC) in an urban slum of Delhi. Objectives: 1) Develop Mental Health Resource Centers with training facilities. 2) Awareness generation, advocacy and stigma reduction. 3) Develop a model of universal mental health program. Methods: This study is a community-based study, carried out over a period of one year from September 2014 to August 2015 at field practice area of the community health department of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi. A mental health resource center was established, under which people of various categories were trained. Awareness generation, advocacy and stigma reduction was done by performing a number of community meetings. A dedicated psychiatric OPD, including psychological counseling, was held biweekly. Community mental health workers (CMHWs) played an important role in fulfilling our objectives. Results: Training of 425 participants was planned and 468 people actually attended the training about common mental ailments. Road shows (4), door-to-door campaign (2), Jan Sabhas (45), mental health advocacy seminars (3), etc., were used to generate awareness about mental illnesses. Total of 867 persons attended our psychiatric OPD. 605 (69.7%) were females and 262 (30.25%) were males. Most common mental illness which was encountered was depression (18.45%).

Introduction: Postpartum period starts about an hour after the delivery of the placenta, and followed till six weeks with hormonal changes, leading to depression and one of the silent contributors to the poor maternal and child health indices in developing countries leading to increased morbidity among women. In India, PPD reports approximately 23% women in hospital-based data and prevalence varies from 11% to 26% in community-based studies. Objective: To estimate the prevalence and to know factors leading to postpartum depression among women residing in urban slums. Materials and Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study consisting of women of any age group and in the postpartum period (2–6weeks) in urban slums of Dharwad, was conducted for a period of one year. Results: Of the 284 women, 45.8% were in the age group of 21–25 years, 38.4% had completed secondary education and most of them (84.9%) were housewives. 35% of women were from nuclear families and 53.2% belonged to upper middle class. Of 284 women, 11.27% women had developed depression, when assessed using Edinburg Postnatal Depression Screening (EPDS) scale. It was found that illiterates and literates were equally susceptible to depression (?2=0.019, df=1, p=0.89) and there was no significant difference found. Increasing age (?2=11.267, df=4, p=0.0237), lower socioeconomic status (?2=9.294, df=3, p=0.025) high risk pregnancy (?2=4.325, df=1, p=0.038), unplanned pregnancy (?2=8.087, df=2, p=0.017) were found to be associated with postpartum depression, which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Equal importance should be given to both physical and mental health of a postpartum woman for a healthy mother and a healthy child.

Introduction: Medical certification of cause of death (MCCD) may be employed in explaining trends and differentials in overall mortality, indicating priorities for health action, and in the assessment and monitoring of public health problems and programs. MCCD is compulsory as per the registration of Birth and Deaths Act, 1969. Objectives: (1) To assess the completeness and accuracy of MCCD. (2) To recommend necessary corrective measures to improve completeness and accuracy of MCCD form. Methodology: Record base review was carried out during October 2012 at Sir Takhtsinhji Hospital, Bhavnagar. Medical record section of this hospital receives death certificates in two copies from all the departments. After taking written permission from the superintendent of the hospital, all the certificates of death in hospital deaths from 1st January 2012 to October 2012, which were kept in medical record section, were assessed for completeness and accuracy of MCCD form as per guidelines of MCCD, Government of Gujarat. Results: Accuracy was immediate cause, antecedent cause and underlying cause of death was only 20.07%, 26.76% and 28.87% of MCCD forms. Completeness of underlying cause of death was only in 47.99 forms. Conclusion: This study revealed definite lacuna of accuracy and completeness in MCCD process of the hospital.